


This Time of Night

by Taudi



Category: Naruto
Genre: AU, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 02:56:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12049854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taudi/pseuds/Taudi
Summary: KakairuFest 2017. I chose prompt FANTASY/SCI-FI 3.A trainer of huge monsters is kidnapped (source, The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie).





	This Time of Night

**Author's Note:**

> I tweaked the prompt a little bit after some inspiration from a late night browsing Youtube.

There was something in the room. Kakashi felt all his old soldier senses tingling. He kept his body still only letting his eyes sweep the room. Iruka was breathing heavily in sleep beside him with his back turned. A dark form slowly loomed over Kakashi and something wet slid over his mouth the second he chose to scream.

-§-

Iruka woke suddenly. He lay for bit not really knowing why. The room was dark and quiet. He and Kakashi went to bed late after a long day working and tomorrow was their day off, so there shouldn't be anything, not even an alarm clock, to wake up to. He looked beside him and found an empty bed.

"Kakashi?"

No answer, just a feeling that something was amiss. He turned the light on. Kakashi would've heard him if he was in the en suite bathroom. 

Iuka moved to turn off the light again. Maybe Kakashi was just in the kitchen or something. But then he saw wet stains and some weird goo on Kakashi's side of the bed. Iruka sat up. 

Kakashi's bedside lamp was on the floor, the bed sheets were crumbled and pulled halfway off the bed. It was weird. 

"Kakashi." Iruka called again, this time a little louder. There was still no answer. If Kakashi went to help the nightshift with something he would always wake Iruka before he left and he would always have his phone with him, which was still on the bedside table where he left it last night. Iruka picked up the old style landline and called the front desk.

"Mr Hatake?" Sakura asked tiredly. 

"Ah, no, it's Iruka."

"Hello Mr Umino. Can I help you?"

"Yes, did you call Kakashi for something or has he called you?"

"No, it's your day off tomorrow." Sakura sounded a little hesitant.

Since Iruka and Kakashi chose to live in a small house on the shelter's compound, Kakashi had been very adamant that their day off was exactly that. If there was any kind of trouble, whoever was working, had to figure it out for themselves. But it made everyone confident in their work and they knew Kakashi trusted them so it had paid off in the end. Being a genius, Kakashi had, of course, known that all along and he exploited it by taking more days off.

"It is." Iruka mumbled.

"Is everything okay Mr Umino?" Sakura seemed more awake. 

"Yes, thank you Sakura." He didn't want to scare her before he knew what was going on. It could be nothing.

He hung up after wishing her a good night. She seemed worried but she didn't push it.

Iruka got up and quickly put on his sweatpants and one of Kakashi's old T-shirt he'd stolen after they first started dating. It was almost see through by now with small holes at the right armpit but Iruka would always wear it when he wanted to be extra comfy. And then he discovered Kakashi's clothes still laying on the floor in a bundled heap from when he took them off. In a none sexy manner. It didn't stop Iruka from ogling his abs, though, not even ashamed of not listening to Kakashi talking about buying groceries. 

"This is so weird." Iruka said out loud.

He followed the trail of wet goo and the signs of struggle out of the bedroom. A picture hang crooked in the narrow hallway.

Their house was small one-story house with a living room, a guest room and bedroom, and a decent sized kitchen. There was a little porch connected to the kitchen where they sometimes drank their morning coffee, while talking about anything besides work.

The front door was wide open letting in a cold breeze and the smell of dew wet grass. Some of the things on the key table were discarded on the hardwood floor. Iruka wrapped his arms around himself trying to stave the chill away and went outside. 

-§-

The merfolk enclosure was a crude imitation of an ocean pond with piles of real rocks around the water and a big willow tree they sometimes took cover under. The space was too small, really, but they had no other choice. Hatake's Sanctuary for Monsters and Dainty Creatures had little income and lived mostly on donations and volunteer work. Some months were rougher than others but they did what they could for the creatures staying there.

One of the mermen, Sasuke, where sitting on a rock combing his dark almost blue hair when Iruka walked by.

"Greetings Sasuke." He wasn't even spared a glance.

There were small splashes in the water and the beautiful face of the mermaid Temari emerged from the water.

"Greetings Mr Umino. Naruto is coming home from his vacation tomorrow so he's quite busy grooming himself."

Sasuke gave an indignant huff and looked away but he couldn't hide the ripple of the scales on his tail, the merfolk equivalent of a blush.

"That's right. It's been so blissfully quiet the last couple of weeks."

Iruka tried to hide his smirk behind his hand but Temari was more open with her amusement and splashed water at Sasuke.

Sasuke glided down into the water gracefully. He was probably finding somewhere to sulk.  
"Have you seen Kakashi, Temari?"

"No, should I have? It's your day off."

"Yes, but he's disappeared." Iruka scratched the bridge of his nose feeling the bumps of his scar. It was an old nervous habit he'd never been able to shake.

"You don't sound alarmed by it." Temari said making whirls in the water with her white pearlescent tail.

"No, I think I might know where he is." 

"Well, I wish you a good search then."

"Thank you." Iruka smiled.

-§-

The wet trail thinned out and Iruka stopped at the end of it. It was close to the building, where he thought Kakashi might be but it had just been guess work until now and he didn't want to disturb anyone at this time of night. 

"Mr Umino." A tiny voiced peeped. Iruka turned on the spot trying to locate where it came from. There were no cages or areas with creatures around. "In here Mr Umino."

Iruka tilted his head back and looked up into the dark branches of one of the big butterfly bushes they had around the compound.

Two glowing eyes were looking back at him.

"Hello Mr Tinning. I'm sorry; I didn't recognize your voice." 

Mr Tinning was a round ball of soft brown fur with long branch-like legs and arms and two huge green eyes. He had good manners and was always more than happy to guide visitors. Iruka had been fond of him since the day he arrived half starved and full of ticks. 

"That is okay. I do change it from time to time." The glowing eyes blinked slowly. "I wanted to inform you that Mr Hatake went into the F-16 building for the Mollusc swamp monsters." A long gnarly finger came out from the leaves and pointed in the direction of a building not too far away."

"Yes, thank you." Iruka said gently."I thought he might be there, but I wasn't sure, and I didn't want to intrude."

"You are very kind Mr Umino."

The gnarly finger vanished into the leaves again along with the glowing eyes. 

The building Mr Tinning had pointed at was a boring square grey concrete with no windows and a big metal sliding door. A plastic sign screwed into the wall merely stated it as F-16.

Iruka opened the sliding door slowly trying to prevent it from squeaking as a lot of the doors did.

It was completely changed to a faux swamp area with running fresh water streams and hot humidity in the air. The creatures could roam freely and even borough down in the deep layer of soil. It mainly contained the mollusc creatures, which were too damaged to return to the wild. 

"Kakashi." He called in a whisper, while he walked down the simple beaten path.

"In here, Iruka." 

His voice came from somewhere behind a big collection of green ferns and Iruka pushed the leaves aside to find Kakashi sitting on the ground.

He was only wearing the Adventure Time boxer briefs he went to bed in and there was a tiny baby creature in his arms.

"He gave birth." Iruka took hesitant step forward.

The baby looked a lot like a common octopus but its mouth was placed in the front, it had two big black protruding eyes and small ears. Its skin was a pale pink colour with brown spots on its nose area that resembled freckles. It would take some months before it settled into its preferred colour.

Kakashi smiled up at him and Iruka couldn't help but smile back. He never could when Kakashi was mask less and unguarded. 

A small puttering and clicking noises drew Iruka's attention and he saw Melvin a little behind Kakashi. He was a beautiful teal colour with purple and yellow spots. They'd had him since he was brought in by a couple of teenagers, who find him alone in dried out pond. He only had seven arms and most of them were crooked and bent wrong. They also found out he sometimes had trouble eating so they decided to keep him at the sanctuary instead of rehabilitation. Kakashi had always had a soft spot for the creature and would sometime carry him on his shoulder throughout his workday, although he weighed twenty kilos. 

Five months ago he had mated with one of the females in the enclosure, they didn't know who, and like seahorses the male carried and gave birth to full developed babies but they cared for their young ones until they were at least three years old, which is why Kakashi guessed Melvin had been abandoned because of his deformities. 

"How many are there?" Iruka asked Kakashi trying to count the many sucker filled arms half hidden beneath Melvin.

"There are six. All healthy as far as I can see." The baby in Kakashi's hold stretched out two of its arms, its eyes half-closed in sleep.

Iruka's fingers itched to touch and cuddle but he kept himself at a respectful distance. 

"What happened?" He asked instead.

"Well, he somehow broke out," which was not uncommon, "and dragged me out of the house. I've been here for a couple of hours. Every time I tried to get up he would," Kakashi paused when Melvin took one of the other babies and lifted it into Kakashi's arms so he had to struggle a bit to hold them. "Do this." He finished

"He's showing you his babies."

"I know." Kakashi said softly as he looked down at the squiggly creatures.

"For him to get you just after he gave birth... Wow."

"Yeah." There was an almost peaceful expression on Kakashi's face. For regular people it would probably just be a cute quirk from a monster but Iruka knew better. And more importantly, Kakashi knew better. It was pure trust form a creature than was able to remember its abandonment. 

It had been years since Kakashi stopped hunting monsters, when he realized that not everything was black and white. Even though he'd started the sanctuary, there had still been feelings of guilt for his past, and a small belief that the creatures he was trying to help would fear him.

A small tug on Iruka's pant leg brought him out of his own thoughts. One of Melvin's arms was tugging at him towards himself and Kakashi.

"Okay, okay." Iruka laughed and sat down cross legged opposite Kakashi. This seemed to appease Melvin and he stopped tugging. Iruka didn't get the privilege of holding a baby but that was okay. This was about Kakashi.

Melvin puttered around them stroking Kakashi and babies with his crooked arms. Every time a baby slipped by him, he would pick it up gently and place it in Kakashi's lap.

"He left a mess behind at home."

Kakashi snorted. "He was really eager, see, I have battle wounds." Kakashi showed Iruka his right bicep. It was full of small round bruises.

Iruka chuckled."He gave you hickeys."

Kakashi laughed and nuzzled a baby ear between two fingers. The tiny creature made a small content which Melvin then mimicked.

"He's so proud." Iruka murmured tenderly.

"He has every reason to be."  
Iruka couldn't help himself. He leaned forward and gave Kakashi a kiss with a hit of tongue. Kakashi hummed in pleasure and beamed. His smile was slightly uneven because of the scar over his left eye. And old wound that left him blind on one eye. 

"And now your hair finally matches your title, Grandpa." Iruka leered teasingly.

Kakashi sputtered.


End file.
